First Day of Dance Class

Today was Paige's first experience in dance class. She is taking a creative movement class at Dancer's Alley in Jefferson City for three year olds. She has been so excited about starting this class and has asked me every day, "Is dance class after this nap, Mommy?" (Paige's reference of time is based on when she sleeps. She calls all 'sleep times' nap and relates when things are going to happen around them.)


So, a couple of weeks ago we went shopping for all of her dance essentials: black leotard, pink tights, and pink ballet shoes. Paige had so much fun picking them out and trying them on. She literally danced around the dressing room in front of each mirror when she tried on the leotard with the skirt. I had to laugh out loud because it was so funny and cute. (The plain leotard did not have the same 'wow factor' for her, so of course, we got the one with the skirt!)

Here is Paige all ready for class in her dancing 'gear!'

So, on the way to dance class Paige was super excited about what she was going to learn and then asked me about being by herself. (She totally loved being in swim class by herself, so I hadn't really worried about her being sad about this. However, she was!) She asked me if it was okay that she was a little scared to be by herself. I told her it was okay but that I would be right outside watching through the one-way mirror, so she could be brave! I then reminded her how fun it would be.

When we got to dance class she was super excited to be there and see her good friend Kacey. She put on her pretend crown and pink high-heel shoes and followed the teacher into the dance studio. Everything was going well for about the first 10 minutes and then Paige just burst into tears and said she missed her mommy.

Oh no! I didn't know what to do...they really don't want you to go into the studio because they want the kiddos to focus on the teacher at all times. So, I waited to see how the teacher would handle this. Miss Clara had Paige sit by her and she kind of calmed down. Then, (this was the sweetest thing) Paige leaned over to her good friend Kacey and asked her to give her a hug! (Whenever Paige is sad, she always wants me to give her a hug.)

This worked for a few minutes until she started to cry again. The teacher asked her if she'd like to go give her mommy a big hug and she said yes. I went to the door and hugged her for a couple minutes and tried to convince her to return to class. She did go back, but I stayed at the door for most of the class. Paige cried about 3-4 more times and came back to give me a hug each time. About the last 10 minutes of class, she was able to make it without coming over and I returned to the one-way mirror to observe.

Afterwards, Paige said she had a lot of fun and wanted to do dance class again. She even went back to tell Miss Clara thank-you! We'll see how it goes next week...crossing my fingers for progress! :)

Wonderful Conversation

It is so true that kids can say the most amazing things. Sometimes clever, sometimes sweet, and sometimes just plain shocking. Unfortunately, our memories cannot hold onto all of these words uttered by our little ones.

I always have the best intentions of writing down what Paige says and then I find that too much time has gone by, so I can't remember exactly what it was that she said. This time, however, I have made it to my laptop...

A couple of days ago, Paige woke up from her nap and came downstairs to find me napping on the couch. She woke me with one of her sweet kisses, amazing hugs, and that beautiful, "hi, Mommy" that she always says when she wakes up. As I started to get up, Paige said, "Let's just lay here and talk." Very surprised by this statement, I said, "Okay, what do you want to talk about?" She replied, "Just about how much I love you because you do so much stuff with me."

Of course I gave her a really big hug...talk about melting a mommy's heart! I love being a mom!!

Good-bye Diapers!

A couple of weeks ago Paige decided that she did not want to wear diapers to bed anymore. I was a little nervous about this because we tried this during nap-time quite a few months ago. She did really well with it for awhile but then she kept having accidents, and I am sure you can guess how much fun I had cleaning that up (sheets and all), forgetting not to mention, that it would ruin her nap!!

However, Paige was certain that she could sleep without having an accident (and she had been waking up with dry diapers in the morning on most days), so we tried it again. Well, she didn't have an accident the first night but she must have been very worried about it because she woke up to go to the bathroom two times (yep, I was up too!). (I have come to realize that as a parent, there is always some reason that you are not getting sleep...and if you are a parent getting sleep, enjoy it because it won't last long!) :)

So here we are a couple of weeks into this new milestone of Paige's and I am so proud of her. She hasn't had a single accident in her bed! She does usually wake up to go to the bathroom once, but some nights we are blessed with uninterrupted sleep! We are so proud of our big girl and we are stoked that we don't have to deal with diapers for a few months (until our little one arrives)! :)